20180531 T M Goodwin WMA

A series of birds photographed with a Canon 5D Mark III camera with a 500mm lens attached. This was a lens practice session on a grayish day, so the photos of the birds in flight are a bit flat. But I did spruce one up in post processing to give it a blue sky.

There is just a tinge of blue in the sky, and the white egret almost blends into it. The shadow beneath its near wing, its black legs, and its yellow beak are all that separate the bird from the background.

This young bird is distinguished by its rusty feathers on it blue-gray wings. As the bird ages the colors (rust, blue-gray, and white) remain the same, but their pattern changes. I know this is a butt-shot (i.e., bad shot of the bird) but I just couldn't pass it up as I don't see many juveniles with their striking color pattern.

The limpkin is one of my favorite birds. They are quite tame, and they love to eat apple snails (as does the snail kite). But this poor fellow (assumption) stands here with one toe on top of his other foot, and a wing that won't carry him anywhere. Limpkins are very loud birds. Hear his call here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-0edgLbegI
(The above video appears to have been filmed at the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Viera, northwest of Melbourne, FL.)

What is interesting about this photo is that it was taken with the 500mm lens alone. If I had tried to make this photo with my 100mm-400mm lens I would have had to add extension tubes to get the enlargement I see here. The 500mm lens is long and sharp, a great fixed-focus (non-zoom) lens. I can't wait to try the 500 with extension tubes to see just how much further enlargement the extension tubes will add.

This is a cropped version of the previous photo. It has been processed to give it more light, the sky has been blued, and it has been sharpened. It's amazing what a few minutes of post-processing can do for a bland photo. And my basic post-processing (which is all this photo needed) I do with ACDSee Pro 9, not with Lightroom or Photoshop. I don't use Lightroom, and I reserve Photoshop for difficult tasks.
Thanks for looking.